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Types of Membership

There are three categories of club membership available to athletes, namely first claim, second claim and higher competition.

First Claim
When athletes come into the sport one of the first things they do is to join an athletics club. As soon as they sign up for a club they automatically become a first claim member of it. There is one exception to this relating to athletes still at school and university where the School of University are are registered with UK Athletics. In this case the school or university always has first claim on their services. Other than that an athlete becomes a first claim member of the first club they join. It is actually possible to be a first claim member of two clubs at the same time. If the original club does not cater for all the disciplines of athletics, athletes can become first claim members of another club purely for those disciplines not covered. For example, if the club ‘A’ participated only in track & field, an athlete who wished to compete in road or cross-country events as well could join another club ‘B’ for that reason. He or she would then be first claim to club ‘A’ for track & field only and to club ‘B’ for road and cross-country.

Second Claim
An athlete may join more than one club. For a variety of reasons (which could include social or coaching) it sometimes suits people to do so. Athletes could then compete for their ‘second claim’ club, when not required by their ‘first claim’ club, but only in competitions that permit this. Some leagues, for instance, specify that participation is restricted to first claim members only, but there are some competitions that allow second claim members to take part. This is different to the case above where an athlete can be a first claim member of two clubs for different disciplines. An athlete could compete for their second claim club in the same disciplines as for their first claim club in competitions where second claim members are accepted.

Higher Competition Club
This is a fairly recent innovation and follows on from a scheme introduced in Scotland some years ago known as ‘secondary first claim’ membership. The intention of the rule is to give athletes the opportunity to compete at a higher level than that provided by their first claim club while at the same time being able to retain their membership of that club. Previously, the only way to represent a club competing at a higher level was to transfer completely to that club and resign from the original club
There are some important points relating to this rule. Firstly, it applies to track and field only . It is not possible, therefore, for a roadrunner in a fairly small club to become a higher competition member of another in order to compete in, for example, the AAA 12 stage road relays. Even within track and field it is limited in scope. It applies only to league competition and then only for senior leagues . This means, for instance, that an athlete could not become a higher competition member of another club for the purpose of competing in the National Young Athletes’ League. As its purpose is to give an additional opportunity to athletes, it is not an obligation and they retain the right to opt to compete for their original club rather than the higher competition club, but they cannot compete for both on the same day. Higher claim membership is temporary, for one year at a time, and athletes remain first claim members of their original club. As Croydon Harriers are currently at the top of all competition leagues for all age groups and disciplines, Higher claim competition is only applicable for Croydon Harriers members wishing to compete in the British Athletics League which we do not currently compete in. (correct as at Jan 2015)

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Opening Times:

5.30-6.30pm Mondays and Wednesdays for the Croydon Athletics Academy
7-8.30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays for the main training nights of Croydon Harriers (ages 10+)
6.15pm-7.15pm Tuesdays for Under 14 Sprinters
All sessions at Croydon Arena